Fact of the day

Information is the most powerful weapon.

Monday

Fact N°
1850

Diabetics in the U.S. go through 6 billion glucose-testing strips each year.

According to figures published in Popular Science, the 23.6 million Americans with diabetes go through around 6 billion testing strips each year to determine their blood glucose levels. This self-test requires a drop of blood from the patient, and according to the magazine, those tiny blood drops amount to about 1,600 gallons lost each year.

Tuesday

Fact N°
1855

The U.S. Library of Congress' collection occupies 650 miles of bookshelves.

The Library of Congress in Washington D.C. doesn't just have over 33 million books; it also has 12 million photographs, millions of maps, sheet music, and other manuscripts. Its holdings make it largest library in the world; and having been founded in 1800, it is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country.

Wednesday

Fact N°
1856

Contrary to popular belief, Julius Caesar was not born by cesarean section.

According to the Roman historian Pliny, the Caesar family took its name from the word "to cut" (cadere), which does reference an ancestor believed to have been delivered by cesarean section, but there's no evidence Julius himself was delivered that way. Women had been giving birth by the method since before the time of Caesar himself, though the mother inevitably died during the procedure. Not until the 16th century is there a recorded cesarean birth in which the mother survived.

Thursday

Fact N°
1857

Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter has never been out of print.

Published in the early spring of 1850, the story of the adulteress Hester Prynne was set amid the Puritanism of 17th-century Boston. The book's initial print run of 2,500 copies may seem small but was in fact reasonable for its time, and sold out in less than two weeks. It has remained in print ever since, and is considered one of the cornerstones of American literature.

Friday

Fact N°
1858

Nineteen U.S. military personnel are double recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor.

The United States Military has handed out almost 3,500 Congressional Medals of Honor dating back to the Civil War, with the huge majority (over 2,400) given to regular Army personnel and only one to a member of the U.S. Coast Guard. In the history of the Medal, 19 individuals have received the honor twice: 7 were Marines, 5 were Army, and 9 were from the Navy.

Saturday

Fact N°
1859

Taking up a new sport can build both body and mind.

According to German researchers at the University of Regensburg, the hand-eye coordination involved in learning a new sport or activity helps develop the brain, making changes to its physiology that might continue for years. They reached this conclusion by examining brain scans of test subjects before, during and after they had begun to learn how to juggle. Researchers not only saw brain development resulting from the new activity, they also detected new paths of communication between different areas of the brain.

Sunday

Fact N°
1860

The Iditarod Sled Dog Race in part recreates a heroic event in Alaskan history.

Alaska's annual Iditarod Sled Dog Race began in the early 1970s, but it gained inspiration from the 1925 serum run to Nome, or "Great Race to Mercy." In 1925, a diphtheria outbreak threatened to overwhelm the city of Nome. The antitoxin capable of saving the city was 674 miles away in the town of Nenana. The fastest means of getting it to Nome was by sled dog, launching a relay of mushers who made it in under six days and saved the city from the otherwise deadly outbreak.